The photographic arrangements of the expedition to Sohag, in Egypt, for the eclipse on May 17, 1882, were made by Captain Abney, the chief objects of the expedition being to photograph the spectra of the corona and prominences. Arrangements were also made by Captain Abney for corona photographs with a 4–inch lens of sixty inches focus belonging to him. The spectrum photographs taken show as many as thirty lines in the prominences, while the photographs of the corona obtained by Dr. Schuster with exposures of from three to thirty-two seconds show great extension of the corona with the most exquisite detail. These plates are also remarkable for the discovery of a comet in the photographs, although the comet was not seen by observers. Captain Abney and Mr. J. Norman Lockyer were responsible for the methods of photographic attack adopted by the English observers, Messrs. Lawrence and Woods, at the Caroline Islands, on May 6, 1883. The spectroscopic results and the corona photographs taken with the 4–inch lens of Captain Abney, previously used in 1882, were most successful. Janssen on this occasion used two objectives, one 6–inch and one 8–inch diameter, and using long exposures, photographed the corona extending two diameters from the sun, this being much further than it could be traced with a telescope.
Photography was again used on September 8, 1885, at the total eclipse in New Zealand.
At the eclipse of August, 1886, visible at Granada, Captain Darwin used a chronograph as devised by Dr. Huggins, consisting of a mirror inclined in a tube in such a manner as to enable photographs to be taken in the primary focus without the intervention of a flat. Good results were obtained. Dr. Schuster and Mr. Maunder used 4–inch lenses of 60–inch focus, and obtained good results. Their spectrum photographs were also successful. Professor Pickering, of Harvard, used a heliostat and a photo-heliograph of 38 feet focus, supported horizontally, but no results were obtained with this apparatus, although he was partially successful with his other instruments.
Very few photographs were obtained of the eclipse of August 19, 1887, in Russia, owing to the unfavorable weather. The English observers intended to use similar instruments to those employed in 1886, but the weather did not permit.